Pillow post



May 10, 1955 G. c. DE VORE PILLOW POST Filed Jan. 8, 1953 INVENTOR Guy C.DeVore IBY mm x ATTORNEY.

United States Patent PILLOW POST Guy Ct :De Vore, Tarentum, 2a., "ass'ig'nor to Pittsburgh .Plate Glass Company, Allegheny County, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application January is, 195:, seen No. 330,251

4 Claims. (CI. 49-42 This invention relates to improvements in glass cutting devices, and is directed moreparticularly 'to an improved pillow .post type of holder fora glass "cutting wheel used in a glass cutting machine.

Pillow posts for glass cutting machines are usually provided with a slotted head surrounding a major portion of the glass cutting wheel, and are also provided with means to secure in the pillow post head an axle on which the cutting wheel is rotatable. Since it is desirable that the cutting wheel be easily removable from the head of the pillow post for sharpening or for replacement,

various means have been proposed for removably securing the cutting wheel axle in the pillow post head. It has been proposed to use spring clips, pivoted latches, burred-end axles, and the like, to fasten the cutting wheel axle in the pillow post head. All such prior devices relying on spring devices, or pivoted devices, modified axles, or the like, do not retain the cutting wheel in the head with the necessary rigidity and accuracy required for precision glass cutting operations. Axle holding devices relying on deformed or burred-end axles are also found unsatisfactory because of inaccuracy, expense, and difficulty of removal from the pillow post head.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved pillow post for mounting a glass cutting wheel in a glass cutting machine.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a pillow post type of holder for a glass cutting wheel and axle which does not require the use of spring clips, detents, latches, deformed axles, resilient materials, or the like.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved pillow post type of glass cutting wheel holder which may be easily subsituted in glass cutting machines for other types of cutting wheel holders.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved pillow post construction that permits necessary changes of cutting wheels to be effected easily, efficiently and rapidly.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention and the manner by which they are attained will be more fully understood by reference to the following description of a preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is an enlarged elevational view of a pillow post construction embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is also an enlarged elevational view of the pillow post construction of Figure l and taken at ninety degrees to the Figure 1 view.

Referring to the drawings for the purposes of illustration, the mounting shank of the pillow post is designated by the numeral 10. The shank is preferably circular in cross section, about three-sixteenths inch in diameter and about seven-eighths inch long. A flat 11 at the top of the shank 10 is provided to permit proper mounting of the tool in a standard glass cutting machine head. The lower end of the shank 10 is provided with a head 14 having a slot 15 therein for the cutting wheel Patented May 10, 1955 ice 16. The slot 15 extends through the head 14 from the front face 17 to the rear face 18, and communicates with a central oil passage 19 extending downward through the shank 10.

The cutting wheel 16 is rotatably mounted on an axle 20 which projects from each side of the wheel. The projecting portions of the axle 20 are received in a slot 21 cut in the head 14 at right angles to the slot 15. The slot 21 is cut to accurate size to receive and hold the axle 20 therein without the use of retaining clips, springs, or latches. It is found that providing slot 2 1 with a slight taper on the opposing walls 22 and 23 results in firm frictional contact with the portions of axle 20 engaged thereby, and that by this means a glass cutting wheel may be easily mounted in a pillow post and may be easily removed from the post for repair or replacement. By way of example, the cutting wheel 16 is approximately one-half inch in diameter and less than onetwentieth inch wide and is rotatably mounted on a hardened tool steel axle 20 which is fifty-four thousandths inch in diameter. The slot 21 in which axle 20 is held has side walls 22 and 23 that taper inwardly one toward the other. Preferably the slope of the sides 22 and 23 is two degrees from the vertical, as shown in Figure 1 of the drawings. The slope of the sides 22 and 23 provides a wedging action which firmly grips the wheel axle 20 to secure the wheel 16 in the post head 14 without other fastening means. The axle 20 may be easily removed from the slot 21 by inserting a pointed implement, such as a nail, in the slot 21 between the axle 20 and the end 26 of the slot 21 to pry the axle 20 downward. The head 14 of the pillow post is preferably formed from hardened tool steel to avoid wear or deformation of the sides of the slots 15 and 21. It is to be understood that the axle 20 is held in the tapered portion of slot 21 by a wedging action rather than by any inherent resilience of the material of the head 14.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to specific diameters and slopes, it is not intended that such illustrative details shall be regarded as limitations upon the scope of the invention except insofar as included in the accompanying claims. Furthermore, the shape of the slot 21 should not be limited to the specific shape described above, but may also include a slot having side walls 22 and 23 that are parallel to each other for a short distance inwardly from the lower end of the slot and then taper toward each other to provide the wedging action required to secure the wheel axle 20 firmly within the slot. In addition, while the invention described herein appears to be limited to pillow posts for use with automatic cutting machines, it is understood that the principles embodied in the present invention may also be used with manually operated cutting tools.

I claim:

1. A glass cutting wheel holder having a head of substantially non-resilient material, said head having longitudinally extending slots cut into its lower end, one of said slots being adapted to receive and engage portions of the cutting wheel axle to removably secure the said axle and cutting wheel in said slot, the sides of said axlereceiving slot being spaced from each other at the lower end a distance slightly greater than the cutting wheel axle and tapering one toward the other for at least a portion of said slot depth to a slot width less than the axle diameter and the thickness of head portions between each side of the axle-receiving slot and a head face being suiticient to provide rigidity to said head portions.

2. A glass cutting wheel holder having a head of substantially non-resilient hardened tool steel, said head having slots formed in its lower end for receiving a cutting wheel and a cutting wheel axle respectively, said axle-receiving slot having sloping sides for at least a portion of said slot depth, said sloping sides being spaced from each other at the lower end of the slot a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the cutting wheel axle and inclined one toward the other to provide a somewhat tapered slot in which said cutting wheel axle is adapted to wedge and the thickness of head portions between each side of the axle-receiving slot and a. head face being sufiicient to provide rigidity to said head portions.

3. A glass cutting wheel holder having a head of substantially non-resilient hardened tool steel, said head having slots formed in its lower end for receiving a cutting wheel and a cutting wheel axle respectively, said axle-receiving slot having sides spaced from each other at the lower end of said latter slot a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the cutting wheel axle and inclined toward each other for at least a portion of the depth of the slot so that the distance between the side surfaces at the upper end of the axle-receiving slot is less than the diameter of said cutting wheel axle and the thickness of head portions between each side of the axlereceiving slot and a head face being sufiicient to provide rigidity to said head portions.

4. A glass cutting wheel pillow post having a cylindrical shank and a head at the lower end of said shank, said head of a substantially nonresilient material having slots formed in its lower end for receiving a cutting wheel and a cutting wheel axle respectively, said axlercceiving slot being defined by side surfaces inclined one toward the other for at least a portion of the depth of said slot, the amount of inclination of one of said side surfaces with respect to the longitudinal axis of said axle-receiving slot being of the order of two degrees, the inclined slot at its lower end having a width slightly greater than the axle diameter and inclining to a width less than the axle diameter, and the thickness of head portions between each side of the axle-receiving slot and a head face being sufficient to provide rigidity to said head portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,634,323 Fletcher July 5, 1927 2,096,284 Lee Oct. 19, 1937 2,312,635 Fletcher Mar. 2, 1943 

